What's the mechanical difference between a natural gas and a propane fireplace?
Flat Rock's historic homes date to the 1800s, and their oversized open masonry fireplaces with aging clay flue liners are the real story here — the fuel is natural gas on the mains. Whichever fuel a home has, the appliance is the same casting; propane simply gets smaller orifices and an LP regulator, while a gas-main unit runs wider jetting.
Old open hearths, modern sealed inserts
Those big 1800s fireboxes look wonderful and heat poorly — an open masonry fireplace can actually run a net heat loss, pulling warm room air up a tired clay-lined flue and out. Dropping a sealed gas insert into that opening fixes the draftiness while keeping the historic mantel and surround, and inserts commonly run 70 percent efficient or better. On Flat Rock's mains, that insert gets jetted for natural gas.
The fuel calibration and the flue restoration are two separate jobs that meet in one appliance: we line and seal the venting, then jet the burner for the fuel at the curb.
If the fuel were propane instead
Convert that same insert to LP and three things change — the burner orifice shrinks, the pilot orifice changes, and the regulator is reset for propane's higher manifold pressure, sometimes with an air-shutter tweak. Done right, the propane and natural-gas versions look nearly identical burning and put out the same rated heat.
We permit through the Henderson County office and honor the clearances a historic home demands. Call (828) 545-0525 to protect the character while upgrading the heat.
Fireplace help in Flat Rock
We install and service fireplaces throughout Flat Rock and the rest of Henderson County — just 30 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- What is an orifice, and why are natural gas and propane orifices different?
- What does a natural gas to propane conversion kit actually change?
- Why do natural gas and propane flames look different?
- What gas pressure does a fireplace need — what is manifold pressure?
- Does high elevation affect how a gas fireplace burns or how much heat it makes?